Human Features
The GLP tackles innovations in human genetics and biotechnology. We highlight the work of our own writers, as well as that of contributors from around the Web. The GLP does not take a position on genetics-related issues; any opinions expressed belong to the authors.
Categories include:
- CRISPR and gene editing
- Gene therapy
- Stem cell research
- Genetic diseases
- Synthetic biology
- Epigenetics
- Biodrugs (pharmacogenetics)
- Personal genomics
- Ancestry and evolution
- Ethics and regulations
Here is when and how humans attained ‘behavioral modernity’
For 200,000-300,000 years after Homo sapiens first appeared, tools and artefacts remained surprisingly simple, little better than Neanderthal technology, and simpler than ...
Genetic basis of mental illness: Individual genetics and ‘racial’ ancestry impact mental illness, but most studies have focused only on white people
Mental illness is a growing public health problem. In 2019, an estimated 1 in 8 people around the world were affected ...
Oldest known human skeleton suggests humans began walking on two feet 7 million years ago in break from our ape-like common ancestors
The study of present-day species has delivered a clear verdict on humanity’s place in the living world: right alongside chimpanzees ...
Podcast: ‘Botched’ nutrition reporting; Alcohol abstinence boosts brain health; What causes acne?
Reporters continue to exaggerate the results of low-quality nutrition studies. Their desire to attract readers with dramatic headlines may be ...
Rethinking human enhancement: Is aging a disease?
In 1851, blacks throughout the US were reported to suffer from a disease called “drapetomania.” The symptoms—a white physician argued—were bouts ...
Diversity, inclusion and the Human Pangenome Project: Why capturing human genome diversity in our 4-letter language is such a big deal
“Pan” has several meanings. As a noun, it refers to “a round metal container that often has a long handle ...
Here’s why humans grow two sets of teeth
You only get 52 teeth in your lifetime: 20 baby teeth, followed by 32 adult teeth. It’s not like that ...
Viewpoint: COVID misinformation inspires sense of ‘deja vu’ for survivors of HIV/AIDS crisis
Since health officials confirmed the first COVID-19 cases, misinformation has spread just as quickly as the virus ...
Podcast: Science Facts and Fallacies host debates body positivity activists on ‘Dr. Phil’
Science Facts and Fallacies host Cameron English recently appeared on the Dr. Phil show to tackle an incendiary question: Has ...
Crazy but not insane? How much of criminal behavior is personal decisions versus cultural influences or genes?
On May 7th, 1972, Arthur Shawcross raped and murdered 10-year-old Jack Blake in Watertown, New York. Four months later, on ...
Gene therapy approvals now at four with treatments for inherited anemia and degenerative brain condition — but costs are stratospheric. Why?
The FDA recently approved two gene therapies with hefty price tags, the first for an inherited anemia and the second ...
Ideology and happiness: Who is more content with life, conservatives or liberals?
It may be one of the most surefire findings in all of social psychology, repeatedly replicated over almost five decades of study: ...
Video: Viewpoint — Is challenging obese people to lose weight fat shaming?
Has the body positivity movement gone too far? That's the question Dr. Phil posed to me and five other panelists ...
Podcast: Industry-funded GMO studies; Food companies back ‘regenerative’ farming; Popcorn-flavored spinach?
Should we be skeptical of GMO safety studies funded by biotech companies? Major food makers including Pepsi and Nestle have ...
‘Neanderthal Man’ — Nobel Prize winner Svante Pääbo revolutionized anthropology. Here is a look back at his groundbreaking 2014 memoir
Svante Pääbo's memoir of how he came to lead a project to sequence the Neanderthal genome— Neanderthal Man: In Search ...
Here is the story behind Svante Pääbo’s Nobel Prize for sequencing the genome of Neandertals and discovering another ancestor, the Denisovans
I was thrilled to learn of the awarding of the 2022 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine to Svante Pääbo, ...
Could evolutionary forces help life on Earth persist in climate change-altered future environments?
Human impacts on global ecosystems can be severe, widespread and irreversible. But life on Earth has evolved to meet environmental ...
Ever felt the love between you and your partner was ‘meant to be’? Here’s the evolutionary reason
In this age of science, many people see supernatural forces as illusions rooted in wishful thinking. But love remains a ...
Podcast: CRISPR Cas13 gene editing; Eye transplants; Sex might drive our athletic and artistic ability
A new gene-editing technique may be safer and more reliable than CRISPR-Cas9, according to a recent study ...
Part II: Science and the courts clash over different views about human life and on what limits should be set on human embryo laboratory research
The US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision striking down the constitutional right to abortion (which has sparked a renewed debate over ...
Part I: 14 days or 28 — What should the standard be for research on lab-grown human embryos?
For four decades, scientists world-over have self-imposed a moratorium on doing laboratory research on human embryos 14 days post-fertilization. It's ...
Seeking a fertility treatment? With eggs and sperm now storable for half a century, here’s what you should know.
The UK government has just extended the period that gametes (eggs and sperm) and embryos can be stored from ten ...
How Africa’s genetic diversity can be harnessed to close the continent’s ‘drug and treatment gap’
“I have begged to just die.” Those were the words of Sadeh Sophia, a sickle cell disease patient. Although living ...
Podcast: Biden’s pro-biotech executive order; Vaccine mandates backfire; Courts v junk science
President Biden just signed an executive order promising substantial investment in the "bioeconomy." What impact will the proposal have on ...
With the first synthetic embryo nearing reality, what are the ethical ramifications?
In what’s reported as a world-first achievement, biologists have grown mouse embryo models in the lab without the need for ...
Viewpoint: In the post Roe v Wade world, what changes should a biology textbook writer make to address the medical repercussions of Dobbs?
I’ve published 38 editions of several college life science textbooks since 1982. All have covered human prenatal development and assisted ...
Differentiating between COVID misinformation and evolving science
With the announcement by Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the Director of the Centers for Disease Control, that “The CDC has to ...
